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Hard sync in it's simplest terms: The phase of one oscillator is synchronized to the phase of another oscillator. The wave "resets" to zero every time it receives a pulse from another oscillator. At audio rates we perceive this resetting as harmonic content.
You'll recognize this synth sound from really bad early 00s "hardstyle" kind of like that famous track "zombie nation."
We're going to listen to just the saw output of the DPO. The first channel of DPO is prewired to sync to the second channel of DPO.
Push the black button under channel 1 twice until a little purple light that says "sync" is lit.
Ch. 1 of maths is configured as an LFO because the cycle button is lit. We plug it into the EXPO input of ch. 1 and
now the rising and falling of maths is controlling the pitch of the first oscillator.
Ch. 2 of DPO is the "root" or "tonic" note that we hear - it's the pitch that is constantly being emitted. Ch. 1 is now the control for Timbre in this patch.
Ch. 2 is resetting the phase of Ch. 1, so think of it as sort of superimposing itself onto Ch. 1.
We going to listen to just the Final output of the DPO. The final output of the DPO takes the second oscillator and feeds it through what is known as a waveshaper. Our closest relation to waveshaping outside of the modular environment would be distortion/overdrive/fuzz. A waveshaper does exactly what it sounds like it does: it reshapes the wave from a simple waveform into a more complex shape.
On the DPO we have three controls over our wave shape:
1. FOLD: the number of folds the wave makes back onto itself. We percieve this as volume + distortion.
2. SHAPE: the shape the new waveform becomes. There are three little images next to the shape knob that show you what the incoming sine wave gets morphed into.
3. ANGLE: the angle the new waveform is slanted at.
Maths is configured as two LFOs in this patch. Ch. 1 is controlling the shape of the final output and Ch. 2 is controlling the angle of the final output.
A saw wave is fed into a filter which then goes into an amplifier. The saw wave is the pitch of the sound, the filter the timbre of the sound, and the amplifier the volume of the sound.
Both the timbre and volume are being controlled by Maths. Ch. 1 of maths when looping is making the filter open and close giving us the feeling that the sound is "going underwater" or "getting muffled."
Ch. 2 of maths when looping is making the volume of the sound open and close giving us the feeling that the sound is "fading in and out" or "pinging" based on the rise and fall settings.
Use Maths ch. 2 to adjust speed and envelope of FM voice. As the voltage rises and falls, the volume of DPO oscillator two adjusts accordingly. Changing the pitch of both oscillators causes timbral & harmonic shifts in the signal.
DPO Oscillator 1 is modulator
DPO Oscillator 2 is carrier
DPO is already hardwired so that Oscillator 1 is already patched into Oscillator 2 and vice versa.
The best BD module I've heard / owned so far; and by a longshot over it's later versions / incarnations. I like it more than Tiptop, Jomox and my drum machine kicks. It's thick, punchy and packs a lot of options from traditional to original without needing more than a trigger.
Drawback is lack of cv control but doesn't matter to me since I don't know of any kick module that sticks out in big mixes without going through a low pass gate. Unless patching a kick from scratch, a kick > LPG reigns over perceived loudness / energy at given levels. Hard to believe when soloed loud on nice speakers yet often apparent in mix.
I run it through a fast LPG like the one in Pittsburgh's Synthesizer Box, with a trigger in the envelope mod CV and Asteroid > LPG input.
Great deal at around $100 new since it's "outdated", if you can find stock.
...looking for a very cheap 6U case and uZEUS or that Source d’énergie seemed to be a good way not to spend too much
Sounds familiar to me. I built a 6Ux84 skiff from cardboard, inspired by this:
I went with a uZeus too. It's now powering over 20 modules with no problems. Watch the ma count though.
Yeah I guess I’ll use a computer (running Max 7/Pure data) because for now I don’t have enough money to buy a cool sequencer like René or others.
Excellent!
I was not able to find a drum module that had multiple triggers in order to use with grid, and more important, that had multiple outputs so I can process the sound of each instrument (with reverb, distortion..) individually. Last Braid’s firmware has drum sounds included so I think it’ll help.
That's a problem right there. If you want a conventional drum track you will need 3 individual modules to produce 3 note polyphonic percussion. (The idea of spending like a complete row on just "drums" seemed ridiculous to me). Erica has a new sampler that plays 2 samples at the same time out of a few dozen with an option to upload your own. Grids seems to make sense only with seperate modules though.
A voice in my noobs head told me that having 6.3mm jack for the line outputs would be better but ok I’m gonna get rid of that Outs module. Also for the VCA I planned to use RYO’s uptodist… Will this apply distortion on everything ?
Probably you will need 6.3 mm at some point. You can buy a Doepfer 3.5 - 6.3 cable or just make your own converter from a cigar box. Be sure to add a few bananas too ,you never know ;-)
Oh and also I’ve seen a lot of little racks using Maths to do all the utility stuff, should it replace my ADSR ?
Well Maths is a lot of things. So yes it could replace your env too but it's not an ADSR, just a rise and fall.
You might get puzzled by the multitude of features though. Your A-140 is a perfect start. When that gives you a yawn you may want to look at Make Noise Function which is the smaller brother of Maths. I got mine used for 100 EUR and it's a keeper . As for the attenuverter I would go for cheap used stuff and upgrade with experience.
I don’t have anything yet but I guess I would be able to find a 230 to 15v power brick.. Is that impossible or too expansive ? As a beginner in modular I’m looking for a very cheap 6U case and uZEUS or that Source d’énergie seemed to be a good way not to spend too much money.
Yeah I guess I’ll use a computer (running Max 7/Pure data) because for now I don’t have enough money to buy a cool sequencer like René or others.
I was not able to find a drum module that had multiple triggers in order to use with grid, and more important, that had multiple outputs so I can process the sound of each instrument (with reverb, distortion..) individually. Last Braid’s firmware has drum sounds included so I think it’ll help.
A voice in my noobs head told me that having 6.3mm jack for the line outputs would be better but ok I’m gonna get rid of that Outs module. Also for the VCA I planned to use RYO’s uptodist… Will this apply distortion on everything ?
Oh and also I’ve seen a lot of little racks using Maths to do all the utility stuff, should it replace my ADSR ?
Hi Denez.
Do you have power a brick or wall wart to drive that source d'energie?
Are you planning to interface with a computer or external gear?
Why did you pick a single hi-hat module rather than a generic drum module/rom player with more sounds/instruments?
Other than that, it looks very workable with those utilities sprinkled in. The Outs is optional IMHO, you can feed your monitors/headphones from the A-138. Get a vca instead. Oh and a attenuverter will be needed for adjusting the cv coming from your lfo and env.
If you could do it in 6u plus keep the System 1M on its own, the Intellijel 7u case could power the 5xx series and the other 4. It has a 3A +/- power supply. Plus you'd get the 1u strip for midi, audio I/O and a Quadratt attenuverting mixer, all of which can be very handy with that system.
Anyone know of a Eurorack flight case I could get for this rack that could handle the power demands?
Although I have looked online a fair bit, I believe the power requirements to be more substantial than a lot of cases seem to be able to handle. I could be wrong.
I'm located in Australia and happy to import but the PSU would obviously have to comply with Australian power supply standards.
First of all ... welcome to your new addiction!
You will start as we all did. You want it all. All these shiny tempting modules. But after a few days and weeks of consideration you will be starting to get a more realistic approach - and thats good. Since you are not Hans Zimmer, you will not have the money to buy all these modules at once - and thats good too. You will start scaled down a little bit. And most important is, that you understand, that starting to deal with modular you have to get "under the hood" much more, then you would have to, if you just simply would buy a plugin. See it like building a house. Knowing which color your roof will/should have in the future may be interesting, but thats not where to start. First of all make yourself familiar with the "idea" behind modular, which is - modular.
Combining things to become something thats not available our there. Get an idea of what you want to do as musician/sound designer. You want keyboard, you want sequencer, you want automatic music ? You have to find out. You can find out. You have the pleasure to find out - since nobody knew, when he started. Its signal flow. Its influencing. Its being influenced. Its mixing. Its mangling. Its using things for other things they where not meant to - but since its modular its "allowed". Everything is right. And thats the pleasure and the pain at once.
So I would suggest to make yourself familiar with the idea of modular. And since everybody can only give the advices he for himself knows the best, I can only tell you how I did it. And I started virtual first. Why? Since you know absolutely nothing at the beginning. And since you have to learn everything from scratch, its best done without massive investment in things you later will learn you dont need. I started with a software that comes from a Swedish company called Clavia Nord. They built a synthesizer over a decade ago that was "virtual modular" and it was called the Clavia Nord Modular G2. The neat thing about this software is, that you do not need to buy the synth, nor the software. There is a completely free demo-version available on their homepage. Search for "Nord Modular G2 Demo" and you will find it. You can pull modules (for free) and patch them.
Get a VCO and combine it with an VCA. Connect a LFO and modulate the volume. You will not learn why you need attenuverters, you will find out and then know.
Start as everybody did before you, - and everybody after you will too ... if really interested in it. Just do it. Buying Boutique-modules just brings you to a certain level. Impress friends and strangers. But you will have to learn how you can influence these modules with modulators (control signals; control voltages; CV) and this then will free your mind - and this will impress yourself.
Let the tide play the flute. Pitch it up by 12 octaves. cross-modulate it with the wind, and use the rectified signal of it to clock the melody of a glacier with it.
.. dont forget all the "bread&butter" modules you are going to need (f.e. buffered multiples for non-audio (LFO, ENV), many attenuverters - (attenuate, damp, invert, shift/octave) for propper "positioning" of your modulation-signals before going into your Boutique-modules -, mixers, aux-ins (from line-level) aux-outs (to line-level) for propper gain-staging.
Try get a bunch of stackcables (TipTop) for splitting signals (not merging!) easily - you are going to need one modulation-source sent to different destinations. Following your signal-flow (mental) will be easier this way.
But most of all I would advice you to get the THREADED STRIPS /rods instead of the M3 -nuts which usually come with your rack. Try searching for "eurorack threaded strip".
Otherwise positioning these M3-nuts correctly underneath/behind your modules will drive you "nuts" - and getting the last module in is a real puzzle. You will change the position of your modules in the beginning very frequently. These strips help a lot making it painless.
.. and the one power-unit in the lower left corner will not be adequate at all if you are thinking skif-shape.
Hi!
I want to run my doepfer a100 eurorack on a car battery.
I read online that there is something about 'symmetrical power' -that is different from ordinary DC(?)
My regulator has AC in so I guess I would need something else that can take 12-16V DC in and give 12V symmetric out.
I find boards on ebay, but the 'dc-dc 12V'ones have very low ampere. The doepfer is 2.5A.
Can someone point me to the right board?
Can someone explain in simple words about this symmetric power?
I am planning on investing into some Eurorack Modules to compliment my analog keys. Any advice or recommendations? Please check out my planned Eurorack and comment if you find the time.
I just got this and realised that it actually has two STEREO jacks. I just thought it was a double 1x2 mult.
If you have regular mono patch cables you CAN leave them not fully pressed in so that the tip if the connector is connected to both outputs.
It's very useful for interfacing a regular 3.5mm stereo cable from your iPhone to the double mono inputs of Clouds etc.
thanks everyone. much appreciated. and yielding some unknown results. great stuff. anyone else with some other ideas? just to see if there's anything else out there? cheers....
Hey There polnochkoshka, great review! I'm having a strange problem with tuning drift with my Karl Marx (Tempco version). Did you deal with that at all? After tuning it up, it drifts about a minor 3rd over 15 minutes....
I got a killer deal on this PM 104 hp skiff and Clouds so I decided to build a rack for the studio around it. I was just looking for any ideas anyone may have on where to take this to make a decent ambient or down tempo rig? I have a MicroBrute to supplement some of the functions but I ultimately would like to break away from it. Any advice you could give would be awesome. The Picos on the rack are on pre order.
Just a little planning on something i most likely not be able to purchase anytime soon.
A Make Noise DPO as a little bit weirder, and a few simple Doepfer-VCOs with a mixer and a MIDI-Interface in the first row.
All the Modulation Sources in the second row, 4 ADSRs in 2 dual ADSRs from Intellijel, 4 simple LFOs, 4 simple Decay Envelopes, a Maths and a Quadra AD/AHR/AD Loop Envelope.
Some important stuff in the last row, the heart of the system, the Intellijel Metropolis Sequencer, some Doepfer Filters (Wasp Multimode Filter, SSM 24dB LP and 18dB LP), another Mixer and a dual VCA.
Some multiples and a little bit of space left finish off this dream of a Modular Synthesizer.
planned to work together with a Microbrute, so not a lot of VCAs, kinda planned for a single, monophonic, living, moving, fat Synth-Voice.
I saw these Make Noise Maths Videos via a re-tweet from Make Noise. You may have already seen them, if you're active on Twitter, but I thought I'd share in case anyone missed them. Looks like they based on the patches in the illustrated guide to Maths that lives on Muffwiggler.
That makes me think, is there a way to see which racks have the most instances of Maths? I personally have one of the old style and one of the new style, plus a Function, but I imagine there are people out there with more than two.
When creating a new rack it would be very practical to be able to input the power qualifications of your case (as an optional requirement) so power warnings are particular to your current setup, when modules exceed your case's power possibilities.
-- ParanormalPatroler
Yes. +1. Great idea.
I actually suggested something similar above (on 12/20/15). I think MG needs some sort of power management configuration.
I wish there was a checkbox to search for passive modules only. Similar to the checkbox for including exotic modules, there should be one that says "passive modules only" or something similar. Checking that box would exclude all powered modules.
I think this would be useful because it seems like there's always a time when you need one more thing for your rack, but don't want to rearrange all the power cables or add another bus. I've also heard of people making a small skiff of entirely passive modules so they don't have to worry about a power supply. The feature seems useful to me.
Thoughts, opinions? This is my 1st rack and built based on a youtube video I saw. I already have the M32 HP60 Case and TipTop power supply. Would like to build a nice small rack that is as flexible and future proof as possible.
awww. thanks for your reply. greatly appreciated. unfortunately this is not what i meant. i would like to have one sharing solution for all of my sounds instead of a number of different accounts cluttered all over the web. i love the idea of free sound and i might contribute to their database in the future but then as a separate entity. for now i feel there is an abundance of sounds everywhere on the net so, there's no need for me to push my stuff as well. i'd prefer an option for private sharing so that i could share more selectively (depending on the quality and intention). maybe i need to phrase this question more simple. what platforms are you and anyone else reading this using for sharing your sounds?
hi there, this might seem a little off-topic but it spooks my mind for quite some time now. i'm using soundcloud and have a bandcamp account to showcase some of my output. however, i do also use a number of fieldrecordings in my sounds and to share with likeminded people but this is what makes me feel i am hitting the limits. i do not want to have all my raw fieldrecordings clutter my profiles as they are very specific and not really relevant to most people out there. nonetheless i would love to be able to make them available to selected folks for easy streaming and downloading. one option to do this would be sharing private tracks on soundcloud. another using wordpress. i'm not happy with either solution though. soundcloud is far to sequential in the way it lets me display and arrange those files with no options for folders or site sections. whereas wordpress is cumbersome to download and display as well as having the limitations of not letting me make available privately shared folder systems. is there anybody out there who is using alternative platforms to achieve exactly that? or are these just unresolvable pipe dreams?
@PinPinKula : i do NOT recommend doing business with this user. Very rude and unreliable user. I ordered a micro Ornaments and Crime on 16th of August and today, 21st of October, I still haven't received what i paid for: a micro Ornaments and Crime with black knobs and buttons. On top i had to pay twice the delivery costs (13,5 EUR when it was actually 8 EUR) due to some problems with the delivery (according to DHL the address was wrong). When i finally received the module on 9th of October (!!) to exactly the same address it was sent on the first time it was white buttons and knobs. After contacting him to ask why was that he confirmed to send them and after 12 days i received the following answer from him: "...you might as well go make music then worry about color scheme of your modules, but thats me.. you do what you want.". This user made me regret using Friends & Family when paying through PayPal.
Please check the following discussion of the group "Modular Synthesizer Sales and Trade (Europe)" about him of the 30th of September on Facebook, it seems there is a lot of people unhappy with his way of doing business: https://www.facebook.com/groups/698742386919180/permalink/1917748588351881/?sale_post_id=1917748588351881
